In the blink of an eye, a teenager from Warrington has become a household name at London’s Alexandra Palace in the past two weeks. Luke Littler has taken the PDC World Darts Championship by storm with his unexpected run to the last 16, defeating seasoned pros and showcasing a maturity beyond his years while being plastered across headlines and national news bulletins.
Darts’ new pin-up has earned £35,000 so far and faces five-time world champion Raymond van Barneveld in the fourth round on Saturday night, with a mere 40 years separating the two players. A clip of him throwing darts in nappies – showcasing a strikingly similar action to the one he employs today – has gone viral on social media, 7.7m people viewed a post from his mum, Lisa, showing him opening his Christmas presents in front of their tree, and he was stopped for a photo in his hotel by England football internationals Aaron Ramsdale and Declan Rice this week.
But while the Luke “the Nuke” Littler story may be captivatingly new to many outside the world of darts, for those in the know, the foundations beneath the most precocious talent the sport has seen have been years in the making. Littler was throwing darts almost as soon as he learned to walk, and throwing on a standard-size board by the age of seven. Fortunately, a new darts academy had been founded in nearby St Helens around the same time, giving Littler an opportunity to hone his craft when he joined at the age of nine.
The town, a hotbed of darting talent with Dave Chisnall, Stephen Bunting and the reigning world champion, Michael Smith, hailing from the area, was about to witness a rare talent arrive on the scene.
“We host the academy every Monday night, with different age groups playing in tournaments – it costs £2 to enter,” its co-founder, Karl Holden says. “I remember the night Luke first came; word got around the room quickly there was this kid in the under-10s tournament who was special.
“You hear that a lot, so I went along and watched the final he was playing in. He blew me away. Pretty much straight away, at the age of nine or 10, he went up and played in our under-14s; he obliterated them. If you win three weeks out of five there, you can step up to an older age group: he won five weeks in a row at the age of 10 with averages of 70-odd. He was battering everyone.”
Littler swept aside the under-16s age category and by the age of 13, was playing on the big stage in the under-21s, playing county darts and winning open tournaments in St Helens. “He was that damn good,” Holden smiles. “But there was nothing more we could do for him. When he was 12, he was probably the best player in the world under 16. I think he’d lost in the final of 10 men’s competitions in St Helens before he was 13, which gave him some added steel. But he needed to take the next step and go off to the JDC.”
The JDC is the Junior Darts Corporation, a breeding ground for the next generation of professional stars. Its chairman is Steve Brown, a former professional who was considering a return to the tour himself during lockdown, when he had an unforgettable first encounter with the teenager. “There was a lot of buzz about Luke,” Brown recalls. “I was trying to get my own game back together to try to make the tour again in lockdown and ended up playing him in an online competition.
“I think he was around 12 or 13 and he wiped the floor with me. It gave me a bit of a reality check about where my game was! But he’s a one in a million talent.”
Littler joined the JDC circuit at a time when another prodigy, Keane Barry – who is now 21 – dominated the junior scene. That soon changed when Littler arrived and at the age of 13, he averaged 87 in a game against Barry. “Keane set the bar for junior darts players, but Luke has jumped above it and set it to a height I can’t see anyone reaching for some time,” Brown says.
His list of achievements in the JDC is long and extensive, winning their world championship in each of the last two years but even while dominating the junior circuit, he was making an impact at senior level. At the age of 14 he won the men’s WDF Irish Open, while also averaging 111.33 in a JDC match: a figure no player has reached in this year’s world championship.
In November he won the PDC’s World Youth Championship final before flying to Gibraltar with no sleep to try to qualify for the JDC world final. He swept a field of 138 players aside, before winning that final at Alexandra Palace this month. “I explained to him when he joined the JDC that while his trajectory will go up, he might have a dip or even plateau,” Brown says. “But that hasn’t happened; I’m still waiting for that plateau. I’m starting to think it might not come.”
Littler’s maturity beyond his years is evident on stage, and it is not by accident. “Our job is to not only get them ready to play darts, but get them ready to become professionals,” Brown says. “He must have done 50 interviews in the JDC, and that was done in mind so that when he burst onto the mainstream and the Sky Sports cameras – which he now has – he was ready for that side of it too. That’s why he’s so relaxed and calm.”
Both Brown and Holden believe Littler can become world champion in the next week, but even if he doesn’t this year, they are certain it will happen in the years to come – and the Luke Littler effect is already being felt in St Helens. “This week alone I reckon I’ve had 20 teenagers come in and they want to sign up and play,” Holden says. “All they talk about is how they want to be the next Luke Littler.
“Michael van Gerwen won the World Masters at 17 and nobody thought that would be beaten,” Brown adds. “But Luke’s here, among the very best and beating them up. He is a generational talent. I’ve never seen anyone like him, and I’m not sure I ever will again.”
